So if you did the quest on Alliance, the final part of the quest chain wants you to deliver a letter from Calia to Greymane. In that letter she tells Genn that one of the first things she wants to bring up to the new council is recalling all forsaken forces from Gilneas.
That to me says that in the future we will be getting Gilneas as a proper Alliance capital. Worgen and NE will now have their 1-10 leveling there while the Horde will get a rebuild Undercity (I whish they would use the upper city this time instead of the sewer) and update Tirisfall Glades.
The Night Elves returned to their old capital of Hyjal, and there is a plot with a new empowered seed/tears of elune.
As for in game changes, I really hope we’ll see an updated old world. I doubt we’ll see new starting zones, but I would love to see the older zone polished and filled with npcs.
To be fair Silvermoon and Quel’thalas have priority over Gilneas for an update, since they are locked in their TBC status for a longer time than Gilneas. So an updated Undercity and Tirisfal Glades should come alongside a revamped Quel’thalas too, rather than Gilneas (or alongside Gilneas). After all game-play wise Blizzard is probably aware that almost nobody among the Alliance players would really visit or stay in Gilneas as an Alliance capital for long, aside a few Worgen RPers maybe…certainly less people than Blood Elves players though (RPers or not)
I very much doubt that they’ll do new starting zones any time soon. If we get back Gilneas and Lordaeron City I’d very much expect it to be A) very low effort without much of any content or B) max level content. We have Exile’s Reach. As far sa Blizzard is concerned, we really don’t need anything new in that new player experience.
But then their are more Night Elf players than Worgen players and they only lost their city recently. Every playerbase will say “we need it more.” To be honest, the recent Exploring Azeroth books tells me that updates are needed across the board. (Even the Kalimdor book gave implications that the Black Moon Army has left Darkshore and Bashal’Aran has returned to a “ruins” state.)
I think now, due to the vast amount of changes told within the narrative (not in-game), I think it’s time for a Kalimdor and Eastern Kingdoms update from top to bottom.
I believe the Seed will grow a new World Tree, even bigger than Teldrassil or Nordrassil. This time, it would be imbued with Life and Death, making it the ultimate Symbol of Balance und Renewal.
She is as much Forsaken as every other undead person who lived in Lordaeron. Her family was claimed by the Scourge, she died and got resurrected. And now, after playing a very important role during the cleansing of the city, she’s just part of the ruling council.
So no one can still claim that they would try to replace Sylvanas with Calia. From the beginning of her substory, Calia wanted to help, not to rule. Blizzard really established her new role step-by-step and imho, it doesn’t feel rushed or forced.
For Erevien the fact that Calia could pull back the Forsaken from Gilneas in exchange for the help in Lordaeron means she’s 100% Alliance of course
It depends if Blizzard considers Azshara their new homeland now…
Of course I’m not as drastic as Erevien but before being accepted as a true member of the Forsaken in their society (and be called one of them) she still has quite a lot to prove to them after all, what she did there to help removing the plague and restore Undercity is just the beginning…
also, the “Pallid Lady”?? They probably should have just found another nickname for her…it will never be as badass as “Dark Lady”, and I guess they had to go with “Pallid” just because the “Light lady” would have made her even more associated to the Alliance (or possibly it’s already a title of Elune)
That’s about where the similarities end, after numerous retcons. Her attitude and outlook are vastly different from the pre-retcon Forsaken baseline and the mechanics of her undeath are a contradiction, which they addressed by saying “Nah mate all the forces can create undead”…
Sha has flip-flopped on that line a few times, however reducing her role likely is a response to the sheer vitriol from the playerbase that the character received.
Let’s see… there’s what she says is the story, written by Blizzard (the company that - according to you - supports you). Her words are backed by her actions in the questline and her central part in the cleansing of Undercity.
And then there’s you, a guy that hasn’t accomplished anything in these forums, aside from embarrassing himself. Who doesn’t work for Blizzard, is not on the community council and broke every single agreement or promise that he has made or given in the Warcraft forums.
Not really a hard decision in terms of credibility.
That’s the point. She is in the same situation as the Forsaken, but has only recently allied with them. She still has to become a part of their community. Blizzard is aware of that, the writers are aware of that, she is aware of that, everyone who can read should be aware of that. Blizzard even adressed it ingame (instead of another novel), they even let Calia mention the doubts and concerns that were voiced in the forum directly.
Still, Erevien throws a tantrum. Because for him, it’s not about the Horde. It’s not about convincing step-by-step story development. For him it’s all about his delusional headcanon, painted as “Horde Patriotism”, he has made that clear quite often.
I’m not a fan of this development either and I think, the way she acted during the meeting in the Arathi Highlands was horribly dumb and unnecessary, but… from that point onwards, the way they had her (re)connect with her people after she decided to help them, is convincing for me. She isn’t forcing herself in (like a certain human king after his kidnapping back then), she’s offered council, stayed humble and didn’t try to take power - on the contrary.
Yeah, but it was step-by-step, transparent and in character. She didn’t want to rule, she wanted to be a priest and help people. She then saw first hand what the Scourge (her brother) had done to the people of Lordaeron, what it meant to be truly Forsaken by your own relatives. Even then, she struggled, until a Forsaken basically told her: “We need you! This was your brother’s doing! Some of us are still people of Lordaeron!”
That’s when she started to feel a responsibility and slowly opened herself up to the idea.
I’d love to see more struggling NPCs in important positions, that gives them a reason to evolve and overcome their flaws, that makes them relatable. A world full of magical Gary Stus like Varian Wrynns would be boring.
She is undead as every undead, but that doesn’t make her Forsaken. Her whole attitude isn’t closely to what Forsaken are and I hope we get rid of her before Forsaken lore gets written by Christie Golden.
There was a character that had the full forsaken experience, death, undeath by dark magic, mind control and crimes he commited, being shunned by the world, and rose above it as a champion of Light an peace. That’s Faol. Not Calia. She just never had the typical Forsaken problems and experiences. Being “undead” really isn’t the point here, when it is about having things in common. And that common identity of the Forsaken is kinda in the name… It is about shared suffering and abandonment. A leper gnome can be more of a Forsaken than her.
So being Forsaken is about getting ugly and edgy? Sorry, but it was about time that Blizzard explored the fact that these factions were once living humans with a past.
Having them as edgy Zombies with a knack for plagues was cool, but… pretty superficial. Regarding Calia, I’m sure her journey is not over yet. There’s still the problem of decay and rotting away - and Calia is the only Undead whose body was actually preserved by the Light.
But of course, it’s (once again!) the fault of Christie Golden, after all, she’s the Lead Narrative Designer.
I was pretty sure that you answer something like this. Calia isn’t Forsaken, she won’t be. She wasn’t dead, buried and risen. She is priest that was resurrected by the light, she never was part of the Forsaken society, but of the Alliance. She doesn’t even understand what Forsaken means.
She is that type of person that gets into a community and without even trying to understand how things work or what kind of people they are she tries to be a part of it.
She gets forced upon the Forsaken by the bad writers that made the mess we live in Shadowlands, because some of them think it has to be.
There’s nothing “forced” about it.
They took their time with it, built it up and explained every step of her journey. We learned her motivations, her thoughts, her struggle and finally, the realization that she feels responsible for Arthas’ victims (aka her former subjects) and wants to help them.
Becoming a “Forsaken” and understanding what that means is her story right now, Blizzard made a whole cinematic about it. They even let Calia address the concerns that were voiced by players in the forums directly:
Don’t get me wrong:
I didn’t like Shadowlands or its story and there are many things to criticise, but to claim that Calia’s story is “forced” is just… unfair to the writers. You may not like her (which is totally fine - but a different story!), but compared to other important Warcraft-NPCs, they really took their time and build this development up.
tl;dr
Is Calia as part of the Forsaken Council a matter of taste?
Definetly.
But is this development rushed or forced forced?
Not at all.
Indeed at 0:56 in that cinematic I was wondering for a moment if she was breaking the 4th wall…that seems dangerously close
also, a change of attire is probably needed for Calia in order to become more …“acquainted” …among the Forsaken…I know it’s probably not very important, but that dress screams too much Light/Alliance…I’m not saying she should dress like Sylvanas, but still…a change could help…
(for the same reason I don’t like very much the Ranger-General Halduron to dress all in blue like living Sylvanas or a former High Elf…as a Blood Elf he should dress in red after all…)
